Palestinian protesters have interrupted the FIFA congress, as Israel faces a vote on its suspension from the organization. The vote is set to be held Friday at the request of Palestinians, who complain about restrictions on training and competition.

Two female protesters
interrupted FIFA president Sepp Blatter's opening address. They
waved red cards at the organization's representatives, chanting
“Israel out!” before being removed from the hall by
security guards.

Meanwhile, a group of around 150 pro-Palestinian demonstrators
gathered to chant outside the venue before the congress began.
The meeting is being held at Zurich's Hallenstadion.

Waving Palestinian flags, the demonstrators called for Israel's
suspension. They held signs stating “Fair play for Palestine,
suspend Israel from FIFA” and “Boycott apartheid made in
Israel."

The Israeli Foreign
Ministry has been working hard to either prevent the vote on the
country’s suspension from FIFA, or at least garner enough support
to make sure the measure is not passed.

The series of arrests at the international organization has
already led to Israeli diplomats questioning the organization’s
credibility, in an apparent effort to derail the vote. Israel has
been accusing Qatar of paying other member states to support
Palestinians in their bid to exclude the Israeli national teams
from the league.

The Palestine Football Association (PFA), a FIFA member since
1998, is calling for Israeli exclusion, claiming that Palestinian
players are prevented from freely crossing the border between
Israel and Palestinian territories, which hampers normal training
and competition.

In order for the bid to be passed, the 209-member-strong
association has to show support with two thirds of delegates’
votes. Both sides, Israel and Palestine, however, likely regard
the vote as more political, and estimate the chances for the
bid’s acceptation as not being high.

However, Israel still aims to prevent the whole vote. Last week,
the topic was raised during a meeting between Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and FIFA President Blatter, who opposed the
vote as it would bring politics into sports.

Meanwhile within a framework of a whole “diplomatic
campaign,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry sent ambassadors and
diplomats to counter the measure.

“We have reached nearly 70 percent of FIFA’s members, but of
course not those from Muslim countries, with which we have no
relations,” a Foreign Ministry official said, according to
Ynetnews website.

“We have received very good assurances from countries that
would oppose the Palestinian bid, but we are taking these
promises with a grain of salt as there is always a concern that
they will vote as per the directives of the regional
confederations.”

This week FIFA faced a wave of arrests of its senior officials,
including two vice-presidents, on allegations of corruption,
instigated by the US. Its chief Sepp Blatter is also under
investigation, and on Friday his presidency is set to be
challenged by Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who garnered
much support from the West in his bid to unseat Blatter.

Israeli delegates were meeting with FIFA officials on Thursday
night in order to try and draft a list of concessions Tel Aviv is
ready to make to avoid the vote. According to Haaretz source, as
a “compromise” Israel reportedly offered to issue
special travel documents for Palestinian footballers and coaches,
ease restrictions on the construction of sports facilities, ease
tax burden on sports equipment and arrange monthly meetings to
resolve outstanding issues.

FIFA would need Rajoub’s consent to cancel the vote, and the
Palestine football chief is reportedly ready to accept the deal,
but only if FIFA in its turn calls on the UN to rule on the
status of football teams based in Israeli settlements in the West
Bank. This could result in the expulsion of five Israeli teams
from FIFA, since the UN considers the territory to be illegally
occupied by Israel.

“Negotiations are still going on but they are very
complicated,” a top FIFA official told AFP earlier this
week. “There may not be a solution until the final
hours.”

Rajoub meanwhile said that “everything is possible and we are
open to every scenario”.